History EveryoneHasStandards / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/MalcolmIntheMiddle'':

** Jack [=McCoy=] in general shows respect for the defense attorneys he goes up against, recognizing that they're just doing their jobs, and he's only rude to the ones that actually earn it. In one episode, one of his ADAs is forcibly assigned to represent a defendant at trial due to a legal aid strike; when said ADA starts getting teased about it, [=McCoy=] immediately calls them all out for it and threatens to demote them all if they keep it up.

** In another episode, even Abed, himself a socially awkward dork with a potential AmbiguousDisorder, finds Annie's brother an insufferably socially awkward dork with a potential AmbiguousDisorder.

* In ''Series/BreakingBad'' Badger and Skinny Pete, two delinquents, junkies and small-time pushers, refuse to sell meth at an "Addicts Anonymous" meeting, because it's not right to prey on people who're trying to kick the habbit.

[[EveryoneHasStandards Characters with standards]] in live-action TV.

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', Kreese chokes out Tory's predatory slumlord and demands he not take this months rent from her ''and'' that if he ever so much as touches Tory again he'll "be back". While it's evident he's mostly doing it so [[PragmaticVillainy he doesn't lose his star pupil]], it's also the only time he ''threatens to cut someone's fingers off'' rather than just beating the crap out of them.

* In the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Compassion," the AssholeVictim was a con artist who preyed upon grieving people by claiming to [[ISeeDeadPeople be able to communicate with the dead]] and squeeze them for all they were worth so they could "talk" to whoever they were missing so dearly. The culprit is a saintly SympatheticMurderer -- a soft-spoken, selfless, assiduous pediatric oncologist who found solace in his charade to cope with having to see young children die constantly; she snapped and killed him when she found out he was stringing her along and all his comfort was a lie. District Attorney Jack [=McCoy=], who's known for being a total hardass with little to no sympathy for whoever he's prosecuting, watches her [[TryingNotToCry try to hold in her tears on the stand]] as she describes the agony of watching little kids discuss their own impending deaths and how, despite her unrelenting dedication to her work, she's forced to watch them die over and over, day in and day out. Jack is rendered completely speechless and just silently walks back to his side of the courtroom -- he looks like he's holding back tears himself. During the recess he offers a deal to the doctor's lawyer, and he accepts, before reassuring Jack that he doesn't need to be ashamed of feeling sympathetic towards a criminal.

** Kirin is easily the angriest of the group when he learns that Seth sexually assaulted Josh, threatening to kill him several times]] and is extremely protective and caring towards Josh afterwards. Additionally, Kirin doesn’t seem to have a personal problem with Ivan being gay—he’s just annoyed at the latter’s ItsAllAboutMe tendencies.

* ''Series/ControlZ'': Even though she is angered and devastated over Luis's death, Marta can't help but feel sorry for the students who are being attacked by the Avenger, knowing that her son would've never wanted these incidents to happen.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': InvokedTrope. The last security guard at Greendale, who is willing to tolerate the campus's safety hazards and getting paid in vouchers, quits when Dean Pelton enables Chang's insanity to avoid legal troubles, saying that [[DudeNotFunny it isn't funny]].

* ''Series/MalcolmIntheMiddle'': Reese is a bully to his brothers and the other kids at his school but he does have some standards. He uses his position as "alpha bully" to ensure that nobody else goes too far in picking on other kids and declared Stevie, who's asthmatic and in a wheelchair, "off limits" for bullying.

* PlayedForLaughs in an episode of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}''. Jackie has done something horrible and won't tell what it is, so Roseanne and Nancy share their own dark secrets, which are either unethical (Roseanne calling up a Creator/JerryLewis telethon and promising a large sum of money that she never intended to give, just so she could hear Lewis say her name on TV) or downright illegal (Nancy once robbed a liquor store). Jackie screams that what she did is far, far worse...she ''slept with Arnie'', an annoying friend of Dan's. True to form, Roseanne and Nancy react in absolute horror, as this is apparently unforgivable (to the point where the three women made a pact in high school to never have sex with him because they didn't want him to "breed").

** Klinger may have pulled every con he could think of to get out of the army, and would swear to every god he knew (and some he made up!) that he was insane. But when the helicopters come with wounded that need care, he always drops the act and did his job with as much professionalism as any of the other members of the team.

* ''{{Series/Poirot}}'': In "The Christmas Party", [[spoiler:Pilar, really Conchita, is more than happy to pass herself off as her dead friend to ingratiate herself with the family -- who never met her -- and maybe get an inheritance, but when they start being nice to her and promising her a share of money even Pilar wasn't legally entitled to under the terms of the unchanged will, she can't go through with it]].

* In the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Compassion," the AssholeVictim was a con artist who preyed upon grieving people by claiming to [[ISeeDeadPeople be able to communicate with the dead]] and squeeze them for all they were worth so they could "talk" to whoever they were missing so dearly. The culprit is a saintly SympatheticMurderer -- a soft-spoken, selfless, assiduous pediatric oncologist who found solace in his charade to cope with having to see young children die constantly; she snapped and killed him when she found out he was stringing her along and all his comfort was a lie. District Attorney Jack McCoy, who's known for being a total hardass with little to no sympathy for whoever he's prosecuting, watches her [[TryingNotToCry try to hold in her tears on the stand]] as she describes the agony of watching little kids discuss their own impending deaths and how, despite her unrelenting dedication to her work, she's forced to watch them die over and over, day in and day out. Jack is rendered completely speechless and just silently walks back to his side of the courtroom -- he looks like he's holding back tears himself. During the recess he offers a deal to the doctor's lawyer, and he accepts, before reassuring Jack that he doesn't need to be ashamed of feeling sympathetic towards a criminal.